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Our Mission & Vision

Mission

As a European University Initiative we offer students a rich and diverse environment with a shared pedagogical approach focused on project-based learning, societal challenges and critical thinking. We develop personalised learning pathways in a multilingual, multicultural environment. We offer the framework and structures to allow students from different backgrounds to become part of a shared European experience.

We pursue excellence in research by promoting free thinking, a bottom-up approach and open science. We cover most disciplinary fields with a particularly strong profile in the Humanities, Social Sciences and Arts. This enables us to develop original interdisciplinary approaches and new answers and solutions to contemporary problems and challenges.

Our educational programmes and research projects are geared towards societal impact. To achieve this we work in close collaboration with a wide range of actors. As a European University we combine local engagement and global vision.

As Reform Universities we continuously question and transform our institutions. We foster the critical function of the modern university by reflecting upon, assessing and advancing alternatives to current models. We do so by drawing upon the diverse experiences and backgrounds of the university community, which embody the diversity of the society around us, and encourage and allow all to participate in shaping the future of the university. 

 

Vision

We share a vision of universities as creative spaces, an awareness of the power of experimental approaches, and an understanding of the promises of diversity. To address the challenges and problems of today, we want to bring together academics from all of Europe and students from the top and bottom socio-economic deciles, from rural and urban settings, from local and global backgrounds. Together we aim to shape a more just, open and inclusive society.

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Reform

Since we question and transform our institutions, we have continued the discussion on ERUA’s identity in the last years and explored the concept of reform in more detail:

Reform is at the heart of ERUA, both in name and in spirit, and grounded on the following principles:

  • Reform is being critical. We follow the function of the modern university and seek to reflect, assess, and advance alternatives to current models. We do so by drawing upon the different experiences and backgrounds of the university community that embody the societal diversity that surrounds us and encourages all to participate in shaping the future. This leads us to assume a vision-driven approach and continuously question and transform our own organization and institutions.
  • Reform is empowering students. We offer students a rich and diverse environment with a shared pedagogical approach focused on active learning, personal development, civic involvement, societal change, and critical thinking. The distinctive learning experience in ERUA is based on a student-centered approach developing personalized learning pathways in a multilingual and multicultural environment. This European experience will enable future European citizens to become engaged but critical change-agents driving the European project.
  • Reform is promoting initiative. We strive to enable free thinking within and around our institutions by engaging our community via a bottom-up approach based on individual and collective initiative, diversity of expertise and the serendipity of encounters.
  • Reform is being open. We break barriers between disciplines, between academia and the wider society and promote open science providing access to our academic work and its results to anyone. Our strengths enable us to develop original interdisciplinary approaches and to seek novel solutions to contemporary challenges by fostering a STEAM approach, integrating the Arts and Humanities into the Sciences.
  • Reform is making a difference. We shape our educational programs and research initiatives to achieve measurable societal impact. To do this, we work in close collaboration with a wide range of actors, including other academic institutions, local communities and territories, business and non-profit organizations.
  • Reform is fostering sustainability. It drives us to place the future of our planet and that of humanity at the heart of everything we do, to move away from classical indicators of growth towards a new vision of individual, societal and global wellbeing.

Governance

As an inclusive alliance, ERUA distributes responsibilities among all partners, allowing them to participate on an equal footing to the implementation of this common project.
The alliance is governed by two main decision-making bodies: the University Council and the Executive Committee.

  • The University Council is the policy and decision-making body of the Alliance which is composed of the Project Coordinator associated with rectors, vice-rectors, faculty representatives, staff and students of all five partner universities.
  • The Executive Committee is the main steering body of the ERUA, responsible for the overall implementation and monitoring of the project.

 

In addition, a group of external experts, called the Advisory Board, has been established to provide independent strategic advice from experts in relevant fields. It is in charge of ensuring that activities can benefit from the best possible conditions and are run according to the most efficient and effective utilization of educational, financial and technical resources.
Finally, in order to ensure community engagement in the alliance’s development, ERUA has set up a Participatory Body. It is an experimental democratic body that aims to foster the expression and the defence of the general interest of the ERUA community, through the evaluation of the relevance of the actions undertaken and in relation to the daily realities of the beneficiaries. It thus positions itself as an intermediary between the governance bodies of the Alliance and the university community.